LAK-617 (U+12501), a sign in the shape of five boxes arranged as a cross; it is used as a compositional element, the central box being used as a container for an additional sign in LAK-618 to LAK-627. LAK-617 on its own also had an (unknown) phonetic value, used in the spelling of a theonym read as dNin-[LAK-617]-la.[1]
The sign inventory in the archaic period was considerably larger than the standard inventory of the later Akkadian (2350 to 2100) or Neo-Sumerian (Ur III) (21st century; all dates short chronology) periods. This means that numerous signs identified by their classical reading continue several distinct signs of the pre-classical period.
If it is necessary to identify the pre-classical sign intended, its LAK number is customarily given, in the form of LAK-1 to LAK-870.
Deimel also published a Sumerian dictionary (Šumerisches Lexikon) in 1928.
Proto-cuneiform tablet, Jemdet Nasr period, c. 3100–2900 BC. A dog on a leash is visible in the background of the lower panel.[3]
The Blau Monuments combine proto-cuneiform characters and illustrations, 3100–2700 BC. British Museum.
References
^possibly Nin-bad-la, see Yvonne Rosengarten, Le concept sumérien de consommation dans la vie économique et religieuse: étude linguistique et sociale d'après les textes présargoniques de Lagaš E. Boccard (1960), p. 176.
^The dates given here are intended for consistency with other Wikipedia articles; they are not given by Deimel himself, who dates the Fara period in relative terms as preceding Urukagina (p. 4).
![Proto-cuneiform tablet, Jemdet Nasr period, c. 3100–2900 BC. A dog on a leash is visible in the background of the lower panel.[3]](File:Cuneiform_tablet-_administrative_account_of_barley_distribution_with_cylinder_seal_impression_of_a_male_figure,_hunting_dogs,_and_boars_MET_DT847.jpg)
